As a general recap, the Nasdaq and S&P 500 indexes hit fresh all-time highs Tuesday morning and finished at all-time closing highs while investors digested comments from Federal Reserve President Jerome Powell made in front of a Senate Panel in Washington DC.
After morning highs index gains pulled back in the afternoon after Powell clarified in his answers to Senate questions that he was not illuminating future Fed decisions. However, he commented extensively on the labor market for the first time.
Shortly after the close at 4 pm EST, the $S&P 500 Index (.SPX.US)$ climbed 0.05% for the day, while the $Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI.US)$ was falling 0.13%, and the $Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC.US)$ finished up just 0.14%.
In macroeconomics this week, investors can watch for CPI data on Thursday, expected at 3.1% and Core at 3.4%. PPI comes out Friday, expected at 0.2% core. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said he would like more data supporting rate cuts, but the Fed keeps its options open.
"We know that reducing policy restraint too soon or too much could stall or even reverse the progress we have seen on inflation," Powell said. "In light of the progress made both in lowering inflation and in cooling the labor market over the past two years, elevated inflation is not the only risk we face."
Powell pointed to rising unemployment numbers over the past three months as an example of a cooling market. The unemployment rate most recently peaked at 4.1% in June, he said, while payrolls have shown an increase of 222,000 a month for the past six months. He attributed the fall in the jobs-to-workers gap to increased labor participation and strong immigration numbers.
He said that, compared to two years ago, the labor market had cooled significantly to just above where it sat in 2019, and that inflation was not the Fed's only concern.
"Reducing policy restraint too late or too little could unduly weaken economic activity and employment," Powell said.
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